It’s winter here. It’s official. We barely had a fall. I’m kind of disappointed about that. One day, it was summer. The next day, it chilled a bit. Then it went back up to the 70s. And then snow. A lot of it, already.

I had no time to reflect on the changing of the seasons. Although I was grateful that my daughter’s first day at her new school brought around a slight dip in temperature. The new school year isn’t the new school year when it’s 80 degrees out.

It might still be autumn where you are. If you’re lucky, it is. It’s cool enough for a light jacket. But not so cold that you can’t feel your ears.

As I was removing some of my autumn favorites to make way for the winter staples, I was struck by how many of those items were now in constant rotation in my closet, my kitchen, my medicine cabinet.

Among my favorites are Neutrogena Sesame Body Oil. It’s the perfect consistency for the changing of the seasons. My skin gets a little tight, a little itchy. And this does the trick. And the smell? Is heaven.

And as I leave my light and oil-free moisturizer behind, I completely embrace Olivella. But only at night. It takes a while to seep into the skin. But it works on that tightness I start to feel, come October. I’ve used this for quite some time now, and as someone who is prone to breakouts if you so much as look at me funny, this product, I swear, does not make me break out. Not in the least.

Lip Guard, in the shade ‘Pebble Beach,’ from Bare Escentuals, is the best. It has SPF, goes on with a sponge applicator very lightly, and the shade is perfect for me. It’s the sincere color of my own lips, just bumped up a notch. I can’t live without it. In addition, I make sure to always have a tube of Blistex Deep Renewal with SPF 15 on my person, at all times. Blistex does a great and not-so-basic lip care line, most of the products have SPF in them, taste good and give a nice, healthy sheen. My all-time favorite is the one in the purple tube, Silk and Shine. The DCT with SPF 20 comes in at a close second, and would take first place, if it weren’t in a pot. I hate to use my finger to smear on lip product. I’m doing it constantly, all day long, absentmindedly, and really, I can’t actually say where my fingers have been.

My big splurge: a flannel shirt by Elizabeth & James. (And can I just add in here that nobody was as shocked as I was to learn that the Elizabeth & James line was conceived by Mary-Kate and Ashley. As in Olsen. The twins. Those twins. Let me just pick my jaw up off of the floor. Who knew? That these two actually had good taste? Turns out, they have impeccable taste.) But it’s not just any flannel shirt. It has little western-style pockets on the front. And 3/4-sleeves. And on the back? The most fantastic set of little buttons that, when buttoned, create the most incredibly perfect fit of any shirt I’ve ever owned. It’s machine washable, best left out to dry on it’s own, and just the most perfect item of clothing in this stay-at-home mom’s wardrobe. I do not apologize for this splurge. Sometimes, you just have to pay more for quality. And then a little more for style.

My Dansko clogs. Yes, I know. Hypocrite. Just last spring, I wrote of how much I detest these things. But then my husband brought home a pair for himself, and wandered around the house in his size 14 shoes, going on and on, about how comfortable they were. How awesome they were. How did he ever live without them? And then, to top it all off, Pea asked me for a pair. Begged me, is more like it. In red. And while hers are actually by Sanita, it’s all the same. Clomping clogs; Frankenstein feet. But I was drawn back in. It’s the official shoe of this town, I think. So I broke. I bought a new pair. But this time, I purchased them in a shiny brown, thinking it made them a little more chic. And while they’re nice and all, chic they are not. Comfortable, however, they are. And back in my wardrobe. But I figure I can cancel out the borderline hideousness of the world’s most comfortable shoe by wearing them with my favorite sweater, a grey shrug, by Donna Karan. And my Paige Premium Denim jeans. The only jeans I will wear. They are cut for a woman. Know what I mean? I promise, if you wear just one pair of her jeans, you will never wear anything else. Really, invest in a good pair of jeans. You will never look at yourself in the mirror again, and say, “what the?”

And while I’m not much of a jacket-wearer, not until it hits about 30 degrees, I found this North Face vest, in ‘Brownie Brown,’ a ‘feel better’ gift from my husband during a particularly bad bout of the stomach flu just a few weeks ago, to be perfect for my neck of the woods. It’s warm, the chocolate shade has a nice sheen to it, bumping it up a notch with the style factor, and it honestly kept me warm enough last weekend, when I waited for one hour with my husband, outside in a line with what seemed like two thousand other skiers, at the Ski Swap. I was warm. And I looked good.

And since my cheeks have a nice flush to them this time of the year, I can forgo blush or stains on a regular basis. What I cannot forgo is my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer with SPF 20, still the best tinted moisturizer around. It’s creamy, it looks natural, it covers well, and it’s perfect for this time of year, when my entire face gets just a little chapped.

Most of these products have been regulars in my daily arsenal. And a few are newcomers, but they’ve passed the test and will, in the future, become regulars. Some are bargains, some are splurges. All are well worth it.